Rolling Stone in Madonna’s Lisbon Footsteps
Madonna is the best PR Lisbon's has got for ages.
A week ago my favorite magazine (for more than 40 years) Rolling Stones wrote about Lisbon. The occasion was Madonna’s Insta a few week earlier where she highlighted Tejo Bar as the inspiration for her fantastic Madam X.
That may be true – but musically it’s the Afro-Portuguese inspired EDM scene you can her all over the album. The scene I predicted 4 years ago would take Lisbon to a new audience 🙂
Thomas
When Madonna visited Lisbon, she made sure to swing through the old-school Alfama district to catch some fado (Portuguese for “fate”) — the impassioned acoustic ballads known as the Lisbon version of the blues. She wound up living there for three years, and the fado-inspired “Crave” popped up on her Madame X album. “In Alfama, you’ll hear people singing and playing fado music everywhere,” she said, calling the sound “glorious and inspiring.”
I don’t know if people have noticed it. But a year or so ago Lisbon disappeared from all places-to-go-lists. Not even Portugal is on any of the list of the favorite destinations for 2020 and ahead?
But it’s not really strange if you think about it. Travel and travelling Life is good content that interest people. The lists are generated by media who need new and interesting content to write about in their magazines, blogs, travel features etc.
They don’t want to spend money and/or time to create their own and original content so they just ‘copy’ or rework the endless stream of articles that highlights the usual suspects: Praça do Comércio, Tram 28, St. George’s Castle, Pastel del Belem, Belem Tower, Fado, Sardines etc. At one point the readers have had enough and want new ¨stuff¨ – that’s when the industry changes the names on the lists and goes on as before…
The problem is – that the destinations on the previous lists are still relevant – Lisbon hasn’t become neither more boring nor expensive since it vanished from the lists – on the contrary. In many ways it’s more interesting as a tourist destination than ever. You just have to dig a level deeper to find the ‘gems’.
Like Rolling Stone did in the story the published last week when they featured Madonna’s Madam X’ tour.
They may not be aware of this: But what makes this city so unique in terms of music is the Afro-Portuguese EDM beats they mention (aka the Ghetto Sound of Lisbon) ) and the fact that people dance here more than in other cities (You don’t find the same ageism as in other countries which is fantastic for travelers our age)
An anonymous bar a few min walk from Tings inspired Madonna to do Madame-X.
I think the second earthquake hid Alfarma for the 2nd time when the world saw her Insta below – from the tiny, cosy and (until the Insta) relatively anonymous bar 10 minutes walk down the hill from us.
I am a big fan of Madonna and like her album a lot. And I hear her source of inspiration. But except for the guitar on Killers Who Are are Partying (and a bit in Extreme Occident) and the saudade feel on Crave it’s the Ghetto Sound’s grooves and beats that has inspired and influenced her (did she meet Marfox) on the whole production and especially – on tracks like Batuka and Come Alive.